Fire On The Mountain
by Medie
Summary: When Alex kidnaps Blair, it's a race against time and a forest fire


Disclaimer: The characters and the concepts of the Sentinel do not belong to me. I'm just  
playing with them.  
  
--------------  
Fire On The Mountain  
by M.   
--------------  
  
Stumbling, falling, gasping for air, pushing trees away from his face....   
  
Slamming into the mossy ground, Blair sucked air into his aching lungs and tried   
to calm himself.   
  
"Jim...Where...the...hell...are...you?!?" He forced out between gasping breaths.   
  
Alex had to be close. He knew it. Could practically feel her breath against his   
ski.   
  
"Run boy, run." Alex's taunt rang out and he jumped.   
  
Looking around wildly, he shrank down slightly but the female Sentinel was no   
where in sight.   
  
It took a moment for him to realize he'd heard her voice in his head. His   
imagination recreating her last words to him when she'd turned him loose into   
the forest.   
  
"Gotta get moving." The curly-haired man pushed himself to his feet and started   
to run again.   
  
-------------  
  
Jim stopped, resting his hands on his knees and sucking in as much oxygen as he   
could.   
  
"Fire on the mountain Jim, run boy run."   
  
Alex's words rang in his ears and the Sentinel straightened up, his senses   
searching for his adversary...and his Guide.   
  
Blair.   
  
He was out there somewhere...Probably running straight into a forest fire.   
  
Talk about a rock and a hard place.   
  
A forest fire in front of you and a mentally-ill Sentinel on your heels.   
  
His senses frantically looking for his friend, Jim remembered how the day had   
gone from decent to hellacious.   
  
He'd come home, expecting to find Sandburg ordering dinner, only to find the   
loft a mess and Blair gone.   
  
In the middle of the room in a relatively clear spot, lay Blair's mini-tape   
recorder.   
  
On the side of the small machine was a post-it note.   
  
'Play me'  
  
Shrugging, he'd done so.   
  
When Alex's voice had come through the small speaker, a chill ran down his spine.   
  
She had Blair and she was proposing a test.   
  
Sentinel against Sentinel, with Blair as the prize.   
  
In an eerily calm voice, she had explained the particulars of it.   
  
One of the mountains in the nearby range was on fire, not a particularly large   
fire but big enough to make things interesting.   
  
She'd taken Blair there and at a particular time, she'd let him go.   
  
Jim had to find his best friend before his adversary did. Alex sounded calm and   
rational on the tape but Ellison knew better. Alex had also sounded perfectly   
calm when she'd been threatening to open up the nerve gas in the temple back in   
Sierra Verde. Who knew what she'd do to Blair if she caught him.   
  
He'd dropped the machine then and raced out the door, Alex's last words echoing   
behind him.   
  
"Fire on the mountain Jim, run boy run."   
  
Something triggered his senses, yanking Jim back to the present.   
  
Mentally going over the things his senses had just scanned, the Sentinel quickly   
found what it was.   
  
Wafting from a tree branch, was a small tangle of curly hair. Dark brown curly hair.   
  
Reaching out to pull it free, Jim realized there was blood on the tree's rough bark.   
  
His jaw clenched and Ellison's eyes flashed.   
  
Blair was hurt and Alex was going to pay.   
  
---------  
  
Resting against a fair sized rock, Blair pressed his handkerchief against the   
cut near his hairline and tried to slow his breathing.   
  
"Have to think." He muttered to himself. "Figure out how to stop her."   
  
Mentally going over his knowledge of Sentinels and their weaknesses.   
  
The best chance was making her zone. Question was, on what and how to get close   
enough to do it *without* getting hurt.   
  
Checking the amount of blood on his handkerchief, Blair looked skyward. "C'mon   
Jim, I really need a hand here."   
  
Stopping his monologue, he suddenly realized the forest had gone dead silent, pushing  
to his feet, he looked around.   
  
When his eyes landed on the reason for the silence, they widened in shock.   
  
"Oh shit."   
  
Standing there, looking into the face of a forest fire, Blair Sandburg realized   
he had bigger problems than one nut job Sentinel.   
  
Having no wish to become a piece of kindling, he turned and started to run.   
  
Alex had to know about the fire. There was no way she, a Sentinel, could have   
missed it.   
  
Knowing that, Blair came to the obvious conclusion that Alex was driving him   
into a trap and that she was waiting for him to turn and run.   
  
Stopping, he wracked his brains trying to remember what Jim's cousin,   
Jesse Graves, had told them about forest fires.   
  
After a moment's thought, he remembered Jesse's voice saying. "Remember   
Sandburg, fire always runs uphill."   
  
"Uphill..."Blair thought for a moment. That meant he had two options. Run down   
the hill or along it. Considering the second option meant avoiding Alex he   
didn't need to think too hard about it.   
  
As he set off, he remembered something else Jesse'd said.   
  
The North Cascades Smokejumper station monitored forest fires via infrared satellites.   
  
Patting his jacket pocket, which held the lighter he kept for emergencies, Blair smiled.   
  
------------  
  
Pausing, Jim caught a whiff of a familiar scent.   
  
Alex had been through here. A while ago, judging by the faintness of the scent.   
  
"Damn..." He growled in frustration. She had a huge lead on him. And she was   
doing a good job of obscuring Blair's scent. He could barely find a hint of it.   
  
"Now would be a good time for some of that mystical mumbo jumbo of Sandburg's."   
  
The Sentinel heaved a sigh and closed his eyes, cranking up his senses.   
He had them so far up that, when the sound of a wolf bark reached his ears a   
moment later, it sounded like a thunder clap.   
  
Wincing, he dialled back his hearing and opened his eyes to see a familiar   
looking wolf.   
  
Blair's spirit guide.   
  
"Bout time you got here." The Sentinel grumbled, covering his relief.   
  
The wolf gave him a 'Oh shut up and follow me' look before turning and trotting off.   
  
"Why do I suddenly feel like I've fallen into a Lassie rerun?" Jim questioned of   
no one as he broke into a light jog, following the wolf.   
  
---------  
  
Blair'd just finished lighting the last of his small fires when he looked up   
into the eyes of a spotted jaguar.   
  
"Damn." He muttered. "Times up."   
  
Rising cautiously, Sandburg took several slow steps backward.   
  
Alex was coming.   
  
Then, behind him, from across the river came the voice he dreaded.   
  
"Hello Blair."   
  
The guide jumped and spun.   
  
Standing there, on the smooth rocks, a eerily calm smile on her face, was Alex.   
  
"Looks like I won." The blond Sentinel started across the river, using   
heightened eyesight to pick stable rocks. "Ellison's nowhere to be found."   
  
Blair started backing up slowly, eager to avoid anymore close contact with her.   
"I wouldn't be so sure." He responded evenly. "Jim's more experienced with his   
senses. He knows a few tricks you don't. For all you know, he could be right   
behind you."   
  
As he backed up, his hands brushed over warm fur and he looked down in   
surprise to find himself flanked by a wolf and a black jaguar.   
  
Looking up, he realized Alex could see them too. She was staring at them, her   
expression caught between shock and fear.   
  
She stared at them for a long moment then suddenly yanked her gaze up.   
  
In time to see Jim rushing past Blair at her.   
  
Physically Alex was no match for Ellison but she fought anyway.   
  
The two Sentinels stood in the center of the river trading blows.   
  
Blair winced when Alex managed to knock Jim back into the water and immediately   
leapt on his chest, trying to drown him. But before he could rush forward to defend  
his friend, Jim managed to get his hands up and push her off him.   
  
She fell hard into the water and he pounced.   
  
The Sentinel slammed a fist into her jaw, knocking her out cold.   
  
He then dragged her from the water, rolling her over none-to-gently and   
handcuffing her- using his spares to secure her feet.  
  
This done, she was forgotten as Jim moved to check on his friend.   
  
"You ok Chief?" He questioned, walking over to check the cut on Blair's   
forehead. "She mess with you?"   
  
The shorter man flinched, as Jim's hands probed the tender skin around the cut.   
  
"No. She needed me in top running condition. Contest wouldn't be fair   
otherwise."   
  
Satisfied the cut was no longer bleeding, Jim stepped back. "I'm sorry Chief.   
This shouldn't have happened."   
  
Blair snorted. "It's not your fault. Its those nuts they call doctors over at   
her hospital. They're the ones who told us she'd never come out of the catatonic   
state."   
  
Ellison glared back at Alex's unconscious form. "Yeah, well, somebody's going to   
catch hell for this." Turning away from her again, he looked around. "We're gonna  
have to wait a bit. The fire's surrounded us."   
  
Blair grinned, playing with the lighter he'd been holding. "Not long though."   
  
He gave the lighter a confused look then noticed the small fires on the   
beach...Looking at them they seemed random but...   
  
"Sandburg...Why are you playing firebug?" He looked at his friend warily.   
  
Blair rolled his eyes and shook his head ruefully. "Jim, your cousin's a   
Smokejumper and you don't know that smokejumper stations monitor forest fires   
via infrared satellites?" He pointed skyward. "We've got friends in high places,   
man."  
  
Gesturing to the fires he grinned. "Thought I'd send out a little SOS to Jesse   
and Mariah."   
  
Laughing, Ellison clapped his friend on the shoulder. "You're good Chief. Very   
good."   
  
"I try." Came the mock-humble response.   
  
Jim grinned and stared at the fires, trying to discern a pattern. "What's it   
say?"   
  
"Hopefully...it's a big bullseye with BS in the center."   
  
"BS? As in Blair Sandburg?" The Sentinel managed to hold in a snicker. "Chief.   
You are too much."   
  
Blair shrugged modestly.   
  
Sobering, Ellison reached out and touched his friend on the shoulder again.   
"Thanks Chief."   
  
"For what?"   
  
"Keeping one step ahead of her. Not giving in." Looking away for a moment, Jim   
sighed. "I...I was half afraid..."   
  
"You'd find me in the river or something? Dead?" Blair finished for him.   
  
"Thought crossed my mind too. Scared the hell out of me for about five minutes,   
then..."   
  
"Then what?" Jim crouched down to check on Alex again, making sure she still had   
a pulse, it wouldn't do for him to bring her in dead. Too many questions.).   
  
"I got mad." Sandburg admitted, looking across the wide expanse of pebbly beach   
to survey the forest fire. "No way I was letting her win again. No way."   
  
Standing, his friend nodded and chose not to comment. Instead he stood next to   
Blair, surveying the fire, and kept his relief to himself. Jim had been worried   
that the next time Alex and Blair met...His fear would prevent him from fighting   
back. Now, hearing his friend speak, Jim knew his fears were unfounded.   
  
Tilting his head to one side, a smile crossed Ellison's face. "Hey Chief, I   
think your fires worked."   
  
"What?"   
  
Jim pointed to the sky and Blair grinned when he spotted a familiar plane.   
As it flew overhead, figures jumped out. As they fell, parachutes deployed and   
Jim shaded a hand over his eyes. His vision zeroing in, Jim read the names on   
their helmets. Mariah and Jesse.   
  
"Our ride's here."   
  
Blair's grin turned smug as he bounced on his heels slightly. "Pays to have   
connections."   
  
Laughing, the two men moved to meet their friends and left their enemy lying in   
their wake.   
  
Finis 


End file.
